Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance

by Richard Taruskin

Over the last dozen years, the writings of Richard Taruskin have transformed the debate about "early music" and "authenticity." Text and Act collects for the first time the most important of Taruskin's essays and reviews from this period, many of which now classics in the field. Taking a wide-ranging cultural view of the phenomenon, he shows that the movement, far from reviving ancient traditions, in fact represents the only truly modern style of performance being offered today. He goes on to contend that the movement is therefore far more valuable and even authentic than the historical verisimilitude for which it ostensibly strives could ever be. These essays cast fresh light on many aspects of contemporary music-making and music-thinking, mixing lighthearted debunking with impassioned argumentation. Taruskin ranges from theoretical speculation to practical criticism, and covers a repertory spanning from Bach to Stravinsky. Including a newly written introduction, Text and
Act collects the very best of one of our most incisive musical thinkers.

Genres: Music, Essays, Nonfiction

382 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Addison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good shit, Richard Taruskin. Nut all over the precriptivists and elitists.

A lot of good essays about the nature of authenticity in music, how to approach certain composers, and the progression of classical music into the 21st century, all backed up with specific examples from recordings that you can find on youtube. Very informative, yet not pretentious. I'm totally not saying all of this because I agree with almost all of his viewpoints.

7.5/10

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Critically incisive, rhetorically lethal, a groundbreaking work of scholarship and perhaps the end word of the whole HIP discipline.

[Nino Bos · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for every period peformer

[Gregory Milliron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I really liked it; however, Taruskin is full of crap in this book.